Reading Afghanistan: Taking The Initial Tourist Approach

Library, Greenwich Village, 2009

"...the craftsmanship of the writer was the difference between engaging me, or turning me off."

I've been having an email conversation with Charlie Sherpa, who writes the blog Red Bull Rising. He's readying for a deployment. Charlie's posts about the preparations make for informative and compelling reading. Lately, we've been exchanging opinions on books. He wanted to know what I've read. I was grateful he asked, as I feel for the past year and a half, I've been somewhat of an autodidact trying to take in as much as I could about a land I'd never thought of before in my life.

When I knew my husband was going downrange, I circled around the library a few times, trying to figure out what to read. Since I knew nothing about war, the military or Afghanistan, I decided to first find out about the country. So I decided to start off like a tourist being told she's leaving soon.

But it's not that easy. You just don't go into Border's and ask if they have a guidebook to Afghanistan. Such a question brings out either a sneer, or a look of incredulity. As in: "who goes there?" "Why?" "Don't be ridiculous."

Fortunately, I found one on Amazon. Afghanistan, A Companion and Guide by Bijan Omrani and Matthew Leesing is a thick, heavy tomb. The duo have written many guides about hard-to-get-to places, but this book is epic in scope. I've found it invaluable for getting a glimpse into a country which in so many ways is perceived as a backwater, but this perception shortchanges its sweeping history:

"a comprehensive introduction to 3,500 years of Afghan culture. Starting with a full history of the country from 1500BC, each chapter looks at the major cities and regions, describing their distinctive cultural and ethnic traditions, their associations with poets, artists, musicians, travelers and holy men, as well as warriors and conquerors."

Along with the book, I purchased big map. When it arrived, I taped it to the wall, highlighting my husband's location as well as some places of historical significance found in the book.

At the library, I found Tony Wheeler's book, the founder of Lonely Planet. As only he could do, Mr. Wheeler decided to travel to many of the countries in Badlands, A Tourist On The Axis Of Evil. Mr. Wheeler takes

"into account each country’s attitude to human rights, terrorism and foreign policy, he asks ‘What makes a country truly evil?’ and ‘How bad is really bad?’ – all the while engaging with a colourful cast of locals and hapless tour guides, ruminating on history and debunking popular myths."

I won't give it away, but at the end of the book he has Mr. Wheeler has his own evil ranking.

I decided to delve further into the culture by getting firsthand accounts of westerners who were working, not just traveling. Not that I wouldn't have wanted to have read accounts written by Afghans, but these weren't available at the time. Sarah Chayes's The Punishment of Virtue, Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea, and Scotsman Rory Stewart's, The Places In Between, provided not only information on the culture, customs and challenges, but did so with an engaging and interesting narrative style.

Stewart, a scholar fluent in the languages of the middle east, and also a long time civil servant, had taken 2 years off in 2000 to walk 6000 miles from Turkey to Bangladesh. After the ISAF forces went into Afghanistan, he went to finish the portion he had been forced to leave out earlier.

"There are no tourists," said the man in the stiff jacket, who had not yet spoken. "You are the first tourist in Afghanistan. It is mid­winter -- there are three meters of snow on the high passes, there are wolves, and this is a war. You will die, I can guarantee. Do you want to die?"

These were the first books I read, the ones that made it easy to imagine the pungent whiff of Kandahar on a hot summer day, or the fifty year old pomegranite orchards in Arghandab. The narrative style, and the craftsmanship of the writer was the difference between engaging me or turning me off. Later, I read military books, war books, saw movies and read blogs like Free Range International. But if it weren't for the initial approach as a tourist, I wouldn't have been ready for the heavier stuff on war by Filkins, Ricks, and others.

You can find all the links to the books I've mentioned on my Amazon sidebar.